Pakistan Super League final to get ‘head of state’ level protection

Pakistan Super League final in Lahore on March 5 to be provided bullet-proof buses, police escorts and CCTV supervision.

The Pakistan Super League final will be held on March 5 in Lahore, the same venue where the touring Sri Lanka team had come under a terrorist attack in 2009. Pakistan will provide ‘head of state’ level security to the event. (AP)

Pakistan will deploy thousands of police and bullet-proof buses for the final of the Pakistan Super League, set to be held in Lahore next month after the rest of the tournament is played in the UAE.

The violence-hit country has not hosted a high-profile foreign team since a 2009 gun and bomb attack on the Sri Lankan cricket side that killed eight people and injured nine others, including visiting players.

“The transportation of the cricket players from hotel to stadium to hotel will be in bullet-proof buses escorted by heavy police contingents,” said Pakistan Cricket Board’s senior media manager Raza Rashid.

He added the match would also be watched by the International Cricket Council task force chief Giles Clarke and other senior officials.

Chairman PSL makes it clear the trophy will come back to its rightful home! The Home of Pakistani Cricket: PCB Office @ Gaddafi Stadium! pic.twitter.com/X6IwuGRw7O

“The activities would be monitored through closed-circuit TV cameras,” he said, adding the movement of players and officials would be watched in a designated control room manned by police, intelligence and other experts.

Some 414 players were placed in the draft for the Pakistan Super League 2017 edition, a list which included former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, West Indian stars Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, Australia’s Shane Watson, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and England’s Twenty20 captain Eoin Morgan.